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Wapekeka First Nation mourns suicide of third 12-year-old girl this year

For the third time this year, an Indigenous community in northwestern Ontario is mourning over the suicide of a 12-year-old girl.

Jenera Roundsky was found dead Tuesday at the local hockey rink in Wapekeka, less than six months after the community lost Jolynn Winter and her friend Chantell Fox, who died by suicide two days apart.

Jolynn Winter, 12, took her own life in January, the first of three 12-year-old girls to die by suicide in Wapekeka First Nation this year. (TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

The three girls were all part of a suicide pact, the community says.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of ‎the tragic suicide of a young person at Wapekeka First Nation last night,” said Trell Huether, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, in a statement released Wednesday evening.

“We are keeping the family and loved ones in our thoughts.”

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Wapekeka is a community of almost 400 people located about 450 kilometres northeast of Sioux Lookout.

The ministry is working closely with Nishnawbe Aski Nation and others to provide support to the community, Huether said.

“Working with our Indigenous partners, we are committed to reducing the high rate of suicide among Indigenous youth through systems changes that are culturally-appropriate, focused on prevention and access to appropriate interventions and mental health supports as close to home as possible.”

Following the deaths of Winter and Fox in January, the community, which had also faced a suicide crisis in the 1990s, was concerned more children would try to take their own lives.

A crisis team flew to Wapekeka in the aftermath of the tragedy. Four girls who were considered to be in crisis were flown out of the community, and 26 other youths were considered at high risk for suicide.

Six months earlier, Wapekeka had asked Health Canada for $380,000 in funding to help address youth mental health issues, concerned that a group of young people had entered into a suicide pact, but Health Canada denied the funding.

The federal department said it was an “awkward” time for their budget, Joshua Frogg, a Wapekeka band spokesperson and Fox’s uncle, said in January.

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“Awkward? It was awkward for us to bury two young children in the middle of the winter, in -30, -40 degree weather,” he said at a January news conference on Parliament Hill, where chiefs called for a national suicide strategy.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde called for a national suicide strategy to address the high rates of suicide Indigenous communities across northern Ontario have dealt with for years.

Between 1986 and 2016, there were more than 500 suicides across the 49 First Nations represented by Nishnawbe Aski Nation. More than 70 of those deaths were children aged 10 to 14, 200 were aged 15 to 20.

In January, Health Canada spokesperson Eric Morrissette said funding had been identified to help Wapekeka and the federal department was working to “support the community’s vision for youth mental health programming.”

Later that month, a private donor committed to give Wapekeka $380,000 to cover the mental health supports Health Canada had previously denied them.

Since the community’s loss at the beginning of this year, the province has also been working with the community and others to “identify needs and help coordinate the response for additional supports and investments,” Huether said.

“We have also worked with Right To Play and other organizations to bring youth programming to the community, including throughout the summer months.”

Wapekeka has a history of trauma. It was one of the communities targeted by convicted pedophile Ralph Rowe, who is alleged to have sexually abused hundreds of boys across northern Ontario over two decades.

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